Tom Kim – photo Getty Images
I first became aware of Joohyung (Tom) Kim while involved in on course commentary at the 2020 New Zealand Open in Queenstown in New Zealand’s tourism playground.
Two of the coverage’s producers from the Asian Tour had suggested that Kim was the man to beat that week and placed bets on him at lucrative odds and while he had already won on the Asian Tour at that point at just seventeen years of age, I was keen to see whether this young man was able to live up the to the hype.
Kim never let us down that week and, although he did not win, he led into the last round and before finishing 4th and impressed all involved with an amazing level of maturity and calmness, especially for one so young.
He quickly put aside any adversity he faced especially during the final round and an in interview I had done with him after the third round, he displayed a level of self-belief that suggested his final round would not be anything to be overawed by.
Admittedly he did not win that week but he left New Zealand and those behind with the impression that here was a young man heading for great heights and so it has proved.
Kim today won his second PGA Tour title just two months after winning his first in Greensboro and will improve to around 16th place in the world ranking and after beginning the year in 131st place he is now amongst the elite of the game and heading even higher.
Kim held off a strong final round challenge from the game’s 4th ranked player Patrick Cantlay, the pair locked in a see-sawing battle throughout the final round until it was the more experienced Cantlay who cracked with a very messy triple bogey at the last to open the door for Kim’s second PGA tour title which he grabbed with both hands by parring the last to win by three.
For Kim, the US$1.4 million was his biggest cheque in the game but it might be that his performance at the Presidents Cup where he earnt nothing for himself, but was a star of the International team, that was the catalyst for this victory.
Kim won twice in the fourball and foursome matches and narrowly lost to the inform Max Homa in the singles, his effort at Quail Hollow proving to be a key factor in the comeback by the Internationals in the latter half of that event.
“It’s really amazing,” said Kim. “A few months ago, I didn’t have any status in the U.S., and now being a two-time winner on TOUR, having that place with Tiger, it’s an unbelievable feeling for me” (he is the first player since Tiger to win twice on the PGA Tour before the age of 21).
“It’s an honour for me, and it’s definitely a dream come true,” said the 20-year-old Kim, winner of the Wyndham Championship in August.
“Coming off a win, Playoffs, the Presidents Cup, and a win this week is – I mean, it’s absolutely amazing. I’ve just got to keep going, and I’m enjoying the ride, so hopefully, many more to come. I’ve still got a long way to go, and I want to hopefully have a long career on the PGA TOUR. I’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Australia’s Jason Day produced his best finish on the PGA Tour since a 3rd place at the Farmers Insurance event at Torrey Pines in February when he finished in a share of 8th, buoyed by a final nine of 29 for a round of 63.
“I don’t know — actually I’ve hit the ball pretty well the whole week, just round 2 got me, and I didn’t particularly putt that great on round 2,” said the 34 year old.
“Then I just started off with a birdie on 10 and then I knew that with the pin locations coming in, if I could just get it on the fairway, and I drove the ball really nicely this week, I could get some wedges in my hands, and then from there, just one thing after another.
“I think I was just so far out of it that you’re just not even really worrying. You’re just trying to keep pushing up the leaderboard..
“Yeah, obviously it’s a little disappointing sitting here and looking at my round on round 2. It could have been obviously a lot better. But it’s been a good step in the right direction this week. I know that I’ve got a week off next week, and I’m into CJ (the next but one event on the PGA Tour), which is nice. I’m looking forward to trying to keep that momentum rolling.”
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Deyen Lawson takes command at WA Open
Deyen Lawson – photo PGA of Australia
Gold Coast based Victorian Deyen Lawson has taken a commanding lead at the WA Open, his opening rounds of 62 and 63 at the West Australian Golf Club sweeping him to a six-shot lead over local amateur Adam Brady and former West Australian but now also Gold Coast based Michael Sim.
Lawson has often contended in PGA Tour of Australasia events including four runner-up finishes but, to date, has never won so the next two days provide a tremendous opportunity for the 31 year old.
Lawson has played the DP World Tour and the European Challenge Tour in recent times and secured a European Tour card for 2019 but like so many others the continuity of his career was impacted by Covid.
Despite his lack of success in Europe Lawson suggested his time there has been crucial his developing his game and his approach to it.
“I’m just getting a bit older. I’ve been out here a little while now. I’ve been in Europe since 2018 and played with some of the best in the world. It’s not a coincidence why they’re the best in the world, the way they go about it.
“Nothing seems to faze them. They do get frustrated but you watch someone like Cam Smith and (Rory) McIlroy, it just looks like they’re having a bit of a stroll.
“They’re good players but the way they handle it is really impressive.”
Lawson’s round was highlighted by three eagles, one of which was holed from the fairway but he would also eagle two par 5’s to go with four birdies and even a double bogey at the par 3 16th could not stop an incredible display.
Brady is one of West Australia’s and Australia’s brighter amateur prospects and is looking to become one of several amateurs to have won this event over the last few years. Last year, local Hayden Hopewell defeated his fellow amateur Hadyn Barron while Zach Murray, Curtis Luck and Oliver Goss are others to have won this title before turning to the paid ranks.
“The heart will be racing I’m sure on the first tee but that’s why I play. I’m excited for it,” said Brady, who plays his golf out of The Vines Resort in the Swan Valley.
“My parents are in Spain so they won’t be here but I’m sure they’ll be cheering me on. Hopefully get some people out from the golf club to come and watch. That’d be great.”
Sim is no stranger to contention in PGA Tour of Australasia and other events having won both the Queensland Open and the Queensland PGA Championship but he has also won four times on the Korn Ferry Tour in the US so he enters the weekend as one of the most experienced and credentialed plays in the field and will be hard to hold out.
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Min Woo Lee records second consecutive top 3 finish in Europe
Min Woo Lee – file photo Getty Images / European Tour
Min Woo Lee’s second consecutive, third place DP World Tour finish at this week’s Andalucia Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters at the Real Cub Valderrama has improved his standing to 38th in the DP World Tour standings and has him well placed to make the leading 50 players who will play the end of season DP World Tour Championship in Dubai in mid-November.
Lee finished nine shots behind the runaway leader, the Spaniard Adrian Otaegui, but three shots behind the runner-up Joakim Lagergren and the €189,000 he earned and the 299 points to go with his third place have moved him from 62nd to 38th in the standings and with just three events remaining before the World Tour Championship he looks well placed to be in Dubai.
It appears Lee is currently not entered in the next two events in Mallorca and Portugal and so will need to rely on his current position being enough to get him to Dubai but the form he has found should see him as a likely participant and possible contender in Dubai given he finished a very creditable 16th there last year.
Lee’s final round of 70 saw him never closer than five shots from the eventual winner but after a run of indifferent form leading into last week’s tournament in Madrid, he has turned the corner.
The 24-year-old Perth golfer moves to 58th in the world ranking from 73rd two weeks ago.
For Otageui, it was his fourth victory on the DP World Tour and he moves to 95th in the world ranking from outside the top 150 last week.
The Spanish golfer, who played events on the LIV Tour earlier this year, is the first golfer to win on the European Tour as a LIV Tour player.
Maverick Antcliff was the only other Australian to make the weekend and produced his best finish of the year when sharing 21st.
Couples’ brilliant North Carolina win but another great finish for Alker
Steve Alker records 11th top 3 finish of 2022 – file photo PGA of America
New Zealander Steve Alker’s final round of 64 at the SAS Championship in North Carolina might have been overshadowed by the brilliance of Fred Couples’ round of 60 to win the event by six shots, but the runner-up finish by Alker was his 11th top three of the season and will take him further ahead in the Schwab Cup rankings.
Alker’s earnings on the PGA Tour Champions Tour in 2022 now total US$2.91 million and he moves further ahead of second placed Padraig Harrington (US$2.57 million).
The amazing round of 63 year old Couples resulted in his 14th PGA Tour Champions title but his first in five years and he did so by reeling off seven consecutive birdies to finish his round, in fact he played his last 14 holes in 12 under par after pars at his first four holes.
Couples had started with a double bogey at the opening hole this week but kicked into gear with a round of 68 that day, followed up with another 68 on Saturday and today blew the field apart with his amazing late run.
“My game can come and go and I’m done for the year,” said Couples.
“I heard someone just say a little while ago, that my game on the Champions Tour is trending in the right direction and I like where it’s going. So I’ve got next year to really bear down and play well. As you said, I haven’t won in five years. It seems like it. Everyone thinks we can win out here and today was my day.
“Expectations are a lot with me, and coming in here, I had Griff, Steve Flesch’s son, caddying for me and I just wanted to play well for him.
“I started with a double on the first hole, so we didn’t hit it off so well. But today was just an unreal day. As we were just talking a second ago, the putt I made on 10 was a huge boost because I knew 12 downwind would be something I could get and then I could get settled in again after making those five birdies.”
Alker also recovered from a slow start on Friday to work his way back into the tournament, following an opening round of 72 with rounds of 66 and 64 and although left in the wake of Couples it was yet another fine week for the 51 year old.
Alker had taken last week off and perhaps took time to kick into gear this week but once he did there was no stopping him.
“Yeah, it just got better as the week went on, swing started grooving,” he said. “Even this morning on the range and yesterday was good out on the course. Yeah, started hitting the yardages and putting nicely, so it’s all come together. So good timing for the Playoffs coming up, just got a lot of work to do. Another three events, it doesn’t sound like much, but there’s a lot of work to do yet.
On his extended lead in the Schwab Cup and with just three events remaining Alker said: “I’d rather be here (in front) than behind. I don’t know how much of a lead I’m going to have going in, but with double points and everything coming up, as much as I can is always good.”
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David Micheluzzi secures first Australasian Tour win in WAPGA
Micheluzzi with his WAPGA trophy – photo PGA of Australia
Victorian David Micheluzzi has today won his first PGA Tour of Australasia title with a three-shot victory over West Australian Ben Ferguson at the WAPGA Championship with another shot back to former Australian Amateur Champion Andrew Martin of Victoria and yet another West Australian Jarryd Felton.
The event was the first of the Australasian Tour’s summer of golf and the $45,000 Micheluzzi earned for his win sets him up well for the following five months of golf in this region.
Felton had taken a one-shot lead over Micheluzzi into the final round but on a gusty final day, Felton, a winner of three PGA Tour of Australasia events previously, dropped fours shot late in his round to open the door for Micheluzzi.
Four birdies in his last six holes enabled the 26-year-old Micheluzzi to break through for his first win but he had been one of the more consistent performers in PGA Tour of Australasia events, having recorded seven top tens in events including when 5th as an amateur behind Abraham Ancer at the 2018 Australian Open.
His amateur career which was completed in 2019, also included wins at the Master of the Amateurs, the Victorian Amateur and the Port Phillip Open so while the professional win has taken time, it has not been unexpected, and more victories are likely to follow.
“It’s now starting to sink in a little bit,” said the winner.
“It feels amazing. I knew I had to play good golf from 13 onwards because ‘Felts’ was three in front. I knew what the scores were and to hit that good of a golf shot into 13, hole the putt, hit a mint drive down 14 – hit a pretty average wedge shot but it was 40 feet and I holed a really good putt there.
“It’s weird winning a tournament. I haven’t won one in five years, and I think I’ve only won about five tournaments ever.
“Because I haven’t won much I had to watch people win and see what people do around the lead.
“With guys that are young who haven’t been in that situation before, after those two bogeys the head’s down and all that. My thing when I start to play a bit average, I get angry internally. I kind of show it a little bit but that frustration, I need to let it out.
“I just didn’t want it to be another sob story. What it could have been and all that. It woke me up a little bit.
“I didn’t think it would be like this but I’m so happy it went like this. I really got to see what I was like as a person.”
Felton still appeared the likely winner through eleven holes of today’s final round but four bogeys in his last six holes saw a seven shot swing between he and Micheluzzi and a share of 3rd was the best he could do.
Ferguson, too was chasing his first win in professional golf and having not made the weekend in eight of his last ten starts in events on development tours in Europe and Australasia, this was the 24 year old’s best finish in tournament golf by some way.
The PGA Tour of Australasia now heads to the West Australian Golf Club for the West Australian Open beginning on Thursday 20th October.
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Min Woo Lee shares 36 hole lead at Valderrama
Perth’s Min Woo Lee has continued his recent return to form and at the halfway stage of the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters at the Real Club Valderrama in Sotogrande in Spain he shares the lead with Spaniards Adrian Otaegui and Angel Hidalgo.
Lee added a second round of 67 to his opening 66 and following his 3rd place finish in Madrid last week he appears to be finding the sort of late season form that could well see him playing his way into the lucrative season ending DP World Tour Championship next month.
Currently 62nd in the DP World Tour ranking, Lee needs to be inside the top 50 ahead of the season finale in mid-November and although he has, potentially, three more events in which to do so a strong finish to this week’s event could well get the job done.
“It was a bit of a grind at the end,” said Lee. “I made a lot of up and downs, it wasn’t easy. The greens got a little bumpy and the wind switched around. I played really good – front nine was solid, made a nice eagle on four, which was probably the highlight of the day. A lot of up and downs on the back nine.
“It’s another two days of hopefully the same thing. Hit it OK off the tee and same for approach play, and the wedges and short game have been amazing. Hopefully if that stays up, I can keep going.”
Queenslander, Maverick Antcliff, bounced back from a slow start to be 19th, his goal over the next few weeks to find a away to retain his playing privileges in Europe.
Antcliff began the week in 158th position in the rankings and need to be inside the top 117 before the Tour Championship if he is to avoid a return to the Q School later this year.
Recent winner, Ryan Fox, Jason Scrivener and Scott Hend were Australasians who missed the cut this week.
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Trio leads WAPGA Championship through 36 holes
Matias Sanchez – the former Australian Amateur Champion is one of three leaders – photo PGA of Australia
West Australian Jarryd Felton and Victorians Matias Sanchez and Jack Murdoch, lead the $250,000 WAPGA Championship at the Graham Marsh designed Kalgoorlie Course through 36 holes, that trio two ahead of Queensland’s Tim Hart.
The event is the first event of the 2022 / 2023 PGA Tour of the summer of golf in Australasia
Felton, who has played mainly the European Challenge Tour in 2022 with the occasional DP World Tour event thrown in, is a former winner of the NSW and New Zealand PGA Championships and an event on the PGA Tour of Australasia in Sydney earlier this year.
Sanchez is a former winner of the Australian Amateur Championship (2017) when he defeated Min Woo Lee to do so and that same year finished as the low amateur at the Australian Open.
Murdoch has played mainly on the Asian Development Tour in 2022 recording several top tens while there.
The trio are tow ahead of the powerful Tim Hart who has yet to win on the PGA Tour of Australasia but who has several top 3 finishes and has been twice runner-up in events similar to this week’s tournament. Hart is, though, one of the most prolific winners of pro-am events, more especially on the Queensland Sunshine Tour.
David Micheluzzi from Victoria and the outstanding NSW amateur Jeffrey Guan are another shot back in a share of 5th place.
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Min Woo Lee shares lead at Valderrama
Min Woo Lee in action today – photo Getty Images
Min Woo Lee continued both his fine recent form and his love affair with Real Club Valderrama as he fired an opening 66 to sit in a five-way tie at the top of the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters leaderboard.
The Australian, who finished third at last week’s acciona Open de España presented by Madrid, carded an eagle, five birdies and two bogeys in favourable conditions on Thursday morning to get to five under par alongside home favourite Pep Angles, Dane Søren Kjeldsen, Englishman David Horsey and Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond.
Lee is no stranger to this week’s tricky host course, having finished in a tie for second behind champion Matt Fitzpatrick in Sotogrande last year.
Kjeldsen closed his bogey-free 66 with a birdie at the 18th, while Janewattananond made six birdies and a single bogey, with England’s Horsey carding seven birdies and a double bogey.
Afternoon starter Angles then made it a five-way tie at the summit after recovering from an early bogey with six birdies.
Recent DS Automobiles Italian Open winner Robert MacIntyre and Spain’s Adrian Otaegui were the leading quintet’s nearest challengers on four under.
“Last week I didn’t have the focus on the last six holes,” said Lee referring to his near miss in Madrid. “But looking at the positives I played wonderful for the first 60 something holes. I love this course, I love the vibes here so just want to keep it going. I feel good about this course.
“The toughness of it (suits me). I have a really good short game around here, something about the grass I guess. Made up and down a few times. It frees up my iron play and long game. Some drives are pretty tough into the wind but if you can get it somewhere in play you can make birdies.”
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Tom Kim’s stocks rise higher in Las Vegas while Jason Day finds form
Tom Kim – photo Getty Images
I first became aware of Joohyung (Tom) Kim while involved in on course commentary at the 2020 New Zealand Open in Queenstown in New Zealand’s tourism playground.
Two of the coverage’s producers from the Asian Tour had suggested that Kim was the man to beat that week and placed bets on him at lucrative odds and while he had already won on the Asian Tour at that point at just seventeen years of age, I was keen to see whether this young man was able to live up the to the hype.
Kim never let us down that week and, although he did not win, he led into the last round and before finishing 4th and impressed all involved with an amazing level of maturity and calmness, especially for one so young.
He quickly put aside any adversity he faced especially during the final round and an in interview I had done with him after the third round, he displayed a level of self-belief that suggested his final round would not be anything to be overawed by.
Admittedly he did not win that week but he left New Zealand and those behind with the impression that here was a young man heading for great heights and so it has proved.
Kim today won his second PGA Tour title just two months after winning his first in Greensboro and will improve to around 16th place in the world ranking and after beginning the year in 131st place he is now amongst the elite of the game and heading even higher.
Kim held off a strong final round challenge from the game’s 4th ranked player Patrick Cantlay, the pair locked in a see-sawing battle throughout the final round until it was the more experienced Cantlay who cracked with a very messy triple bogey at the last to open the door for Kim’s second PGA tour title which he grabbed with both hands by parring the last to win by three.
For Kim, the US$1.4 million was his biggest cheque in the game but it might be that his performance at the Presidents Cup where he earnt nothing for himself, but was a star of the International team, that was the catalyst for this victory.
Kim won twice in the fourball and foursome matches and narrowly lost to the inform Max Homa in the singles, his effort at Quail Hollow proving to be a key factor in the comeback by the Internationals in the latter half of that event.
“It’s really amazing,” said Kim. “A few months ago, I didn’t have any status in the U.S., and now being a two-time winner on TOUR, having that place with Tiger, it’s an unbelievable feeling for me” (he is the first player since Tiger to win twice on the PGA Tour before the age of 21).
“It’s an honour for me, and it’s definitely a dream come true,” said the 20-year-old Kim, winner of the Wyndham Championship in August.
“Coming off a win, Playoffs, the Presidents Cup, and a win this week is – I mean, it’s absolutely amazing. I’ve just got to keep going, and I’m enjoying the ride, so hopefully, many more to come. I’ve still got a long way to go, and I want to hopefully have a long career on the PGA TOUR. I’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Australia’s Jason Day produced his best finish on the PGA Tour since a 3rd place at the Farmers Insurance event at Torrey Pines in February when he finished in a share of 8th, buoyed by a final nine of 29 for a round of 63.
“I don’t know — actually I’ve hit the ball pretty well the whole week, just round 2 got me, and I didn’t particularly putt that great on round 2,” said the 34 year old.
“Then I just started off with a birdie on 10 and then I knew that with the pin locations coming in, if I could just get it on the fairway, and I drove the ball really nicely this week, I could get some wedges in my hands, and then from there, just one thing after another.
“I think I was just so far out of it that you’re just not even really worrying. You’re just trying to keep pushing up the leaderboard..
“Yeah, obviously it’s a little disappointing sitting here and looking at my round on round 2. It could have been obviously a lot better. But it’s been a good step in the right direction this week. I know that I’ve got a week off next week, and I’m into CJ (the next but one event on the PGA Tour), which is nice. I’m looking forward to trying to keep that momentum rolling.”
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Grace Kim earns LPGA Tour playing rights
Grace Kim – file photo courtesy of WAPGA
Despite missing the cut in her final event of the season on the Epson Tour, The Epson Tour Championship, Sydney’s Grace Kim has done well enough during her rookie season in professional golf to play her way onto the LPGA Tour in 2023.
21 year old Kim finished the season in 5th position on the Epson Tour Order of Merit and as such will earn one of the ten LPGA Tour cards available via the secondary tour.
Grace’s win in the IOA Classic in May set up her season but she added another four top tens to see her comfortably inside the required mark.
Kim also played well in events on the WPGA and Australian PGA Tour’s Player Series events earlier in the year and the former Australian Amateur Champion (2021) appears set to make her mark at the higher level of the LPGA.
In this week’s Tour Championship, Victorian Gabi Ruffels and New Zealand’s Amelia Garvey finished tied for 11th and Queensland’s Robyn Choi 20th but they will not advance having finished outside the all-important top ten.
Jon Rahm wins third Spanish Open Min Woo Lee finishes 3rd
Rahm wins by six shots to claim his third Spanish Open – photo Getty Images
Perhaps predictably, world number six and by some margin the highest ranked player in the field, Jon Rahm, has won his own national open for the third occasion and his 8th DP World Tour title with an emphatic six shot victory over Frenchman Matthieu Pavon in the acciona Open de España presented by Madrid.
Rahm had taken a one shot lead over Australian Min Woo Lee into the final round but by the turn he led by two over Lee and extended that lead to six with a final nine of 30.
Lee finished 3rd after a final round of 68 was not enough to hold off Pavon whose bogey free round of 65 earnt him his third runner-up finish on the DP World Tour.
Rahm matched his hero Seve Ballesteros’ three wins and in his post tournament media conference reflected on that accomplishment.
“You might have to ask me in a few days as I take quite a while to process these things, but it was the goal coming in,” said Rahm.
“You know, Seve (Ballesteros) is a great hero of mine and to do something he took his whole career to do in just a few years is quite humbling, I’m not going to lie. It might not be the strongest field I play all year but sometimes this could be the hardest to win, right? when I’m at home, I’m supposed to win, everybody is betting on me to win and to come out and play a Sunday like I just did it’s hard to describe.
“My lowest round, my lowest score out here, it was pretty much a perfect week and the only thing that would make it better was if my wife and kids were here. It was the first one, the newest one with Eneko so I’m glad that’s it’s certainly after each kid that I’ve won a tournament, but yeah, I have a lot of family here I don’t see throughout the year.
“I haven’t had time to process anything, it’s truly an honour. Seve was the winner of this, the Spanish player of the Spanish Open and to join him in just four attempts is very unique, and to beat his lowest scoring record on this course and to do it in this fashion, I don’t know how to describe it.
“It sometimes takes me a while to get off golf mode and competition mode right, but I’m almost at a loss for words. I’ve been able to join Seve on many lists in the history of this game, the Spanish history of this game, and this one could be the most meaningful.”
Lee made a jump to 62nd from 88th in the DP World Tour ranking and with the leading 50 gaining access to the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai in five weeks’ time he is heading in the right direction to take him place in that field.
Maverick Antcliff was the only other Australian to make the weekend but finished well back in 62nd place.
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